


Protest

by koalathebear



Category: Homeland
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, Missing Scene, One Shot, Prompt Fic, Scribble, Stand Alone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-03
Updated: 2014-01-03
Packaged: 2018-01-07 06:08:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1116416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/koalathebear/pseuds/koalathebear
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Little scribble set during the Washington protests in October 2013.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Protest

**Author's Note:**

> Fic prompt by anonymous over [here at tumblr](http://koalathebear.tumblr.com/post/71960601188/hey-there-big-fan-of-your-writing-here-thought-id): "we're always used to seeing Carrie fly off the handle and acting erratic while everyone else tries to calm her down. Why not reverse the roles? Put her in the position of being the voice of reason while Quinn is too blinded by some assignment/situation to see things right. The dynamics might be interesting."
> 
> My response: "That’s a tricky one because to be honest, I’ve always regarded Quinn’s calmness/rationality as being a fairly core quality and one of his super powers. 
> 
> At first I really struggled to think of a situation where he might behave irrationally, but then I remembered the scene in “The Yoga Play” where he disobeys Saul’s direct order, gets out of the car and runs into the house - even though there’s a possibility that it could screw up the surveillance. It’s not as infuriating as when Carrie does it but to be honest, it wasn’t that unlike when Carrie goes rushing headlong into things without considering the wider consequences.
> 
> Carrie is definitely the chink in his armour and possibly the only thing that might make him behave in a way that’s not entirely cool and collected. I came up with this little scribble … I know it’s probably not precisely what you wanted but hopefully it will do :) "

"Let’s get out of here," Quinn muttered grimly, scanning the growing numbers of protesters thronging outside of the White House.

Earlier that day, a crowd had converged on the World War II Memorial on the National Mall, pushing through barriers to protest the memorial’s closing under the government shutdown.

Republican Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah, along with former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin had gathered with Cruz claiming that President Barack Obama was using veterans as pawns in closing the memorial.

"Let me ask a simple question," Cruz had told the crowd. "Why is the federal government spending money to erect barricades to keep veterans out of this memorial?"

The crowd had chanted “Tear down these walls” and “You work for us.” Protesters had sung “God bless America” and other songs as they had entered the memorial plaza.

Frustrated with the continued shutdown and angry at the closure of Washington memorials, the demonstrators had torn down the barricades blocking the World War II memorial on the National Mall and taken them to the White House.

"Jesus - can you believe this?" Carrie asked in disbelief, staring at the angry protestors carrying the memorial barricades and shouting as they advanced upon the White House. At Lockhart’s request, she and Quinn had been attending a briefing session with one of the President’s advisors, emerging in time to see the crowd gathering outside of the gates.

One of the protesters carried a sign demanding for the impeachment of the president, others waved Confederate flags. The mood was tense and tempers were definitely flaring with the protesters abusing anyone they saw leaving the White House.

As they walked through the crowd in an attempt to get back to their car which was parked just outside the gates, Carrie stumbled slightly in her haste to get to the car, accidentally colliding into one of the protesters before Quinn could reach out and steady her.

"Look where you’re going!" the man snapped at her.

"You were in _my_ way,” Carrie muttered beneath her breath.

"You talking to me?" the man demanded. He stopped and stared at her in contempt, taking in her conservative pants suit. "You a Fed or one of them?"

"Hey – ease off her, man," Quinn said calmly, walking forward and moving Carrie to the side so that he was standing between her and the protester.

"Stay out of it," the man retorted, stepping forward. "As far as I’m concerned, people like you are part of the problem."

"People like me?" Carrie demanded in disbelief, stepping out from behind Quinn just as the man reached forward and pushed her backwards with enough force to make her stumble.

"Entitled bitches like you who don’t give a damn what things are like for the ordinary American."

Quinn caught her by the arm as she struggled to maintain her balance.

"You fucking asshole," Quinn said in a furious voice, striding forward, eyes dark with rage and looking as though he was going to knock the man’s head off.

"Uh Quinn – I’m fine," Carrie muttered, grabbing his arm and pulling at it in vain.

"Take it easy," the man said hastily, panicking at the expression on Quinn’s face as he seized the front of the man’s jacket and started to life him off the ground.

"Take it _easy_? After you fucking push a pregnant woman?” Quinn demanded, his voice shaking with rage.

"Quinn – let go of him. Please - let’s get out of here. The fucking riot police are here!" she exclaimed and grabbed his arm again. Quinn was still ignoring her as he glared down fiercely into the protester’s terrified face. Carrie rolled her eyes. "Pregnant lady here saying she wants to get away before the excitement starts! Do you really want to deliver a baby here?" she demanded loudly.

Quinn stiffened and stared at Carrie and then at the riot police who were staring to move the protestors back and set up barricades between the protestors and the White House gates. While there was no violence yet, there was a great deal of swearing, pushing and shoving. Although his eyes were still dark with anger, his mouth tightened and he nodded.

"Get the fuck out of my way!" Quinn snapped at the protestor who almost ran in his haste to get away and Carrie shook her head. 

Reaching out, she grabbed Quinn’s hand. “Come on, let’s go,” she said and started pulling him through the crowd.

Muttering beneath his breath, he switched places with her and started clearing a path for her through the protesters as he pulled her against him as if to shield her from the crush of bodies around them.

Carrie felt a moment of suffocation and panic from the press of the crowd but eventually Quinn broke through and they were standing outside the throng and were in sight of his parked car.

"What?" Quinn demanded defensively as he unlocked the door and both slid into their seats, Carrie into the passenger seat and Quinn into the driver’s seat.

"I told you to stand down - and you ignored me!"

"Now you know how the rest of the fucking world feels when they’re trying to talk some sense into you," he replied and started the car.

Carrie glanced at his grim face. Although part of her felt that she should be feeling outraged and offended at his dig, the other part of her knew that the comment was justified.

"If I agree to Indian tonight, will you stop frowning?" she offered by way of an olive branch.

At Quinn’s response, Carrie rolled her eyes while laughing at the same time. For such a complex, man, Quinn was ridiculously easy to manage sometimes.

**end**


End file.
